Shadows of Aosda
Shadows of Aosda Napie in Dark Ages Few have ever been able to write about what happened near the end of the life span of the Aosdic Civilization, and for good reason. While we know the civilization existed, there have been few written accounts of it or evidence that has survived the sands of time that we have known about. However, that is human accounts. The kobolds have thoroughly kept track of all the records dating back to that period of time, through legends, and through inscriptions upon cave walls. However, they have never shared this information with human beings in fear that history may repeat itself if the Aosdic secrets were to ever fall into the hands of the "Corrupted", "fallen", or better known as human beings. However, since I am in fact a mountain person, they consider me a pure being of nature, and treated me as such. I was then allowed to know what happened, and the fate of the world because of what darkness did. The kobold high shaman, who is responsible for keeping track of all the historical data in the kobold records, gave me a wealth of parchments, stone tablets, and other relics of the Aosdic civilization. In return, he asked a favour of me: To warn the human beings, mundane and Aisling alike, what could happen if we become corrupted by darkness again. For he fears Loures may be walking down the very same path which Aosda went down, and that lead to the Gods’ purging of the world from darkness through devastation. Through what I have here, it may be possible to prevent history from repeating itself… ''Shadows of Hy-brasyl According to the documents, as well as the legends, Aosda was at its height about 16000 to 18000 years ago. The Aosdic scholars and wizards had at the time built a near perfect kingdom. Cities, spanning miles, built of gold and other rare metals floated in the sky. The Aosdics had also mastered most of the metaphysical arts, and used them everywhere. Power crystals, which absorbed energy, then transferred it to an alternate form, kept these massive cities of gold afloat. People lived somewhat peaceful lives, basking in the greatness of their cities and magical powers. Their scholars and magiks users worked very hard to discover and know all knowledge, and for thousands of years Aosda flourished. However, as the saying goes "''Every light casts a shadow…" What many scholars do not realize is that the Aosdics had a dark side. While the average citizen, and many of the scholars, were living quite happy lives in their floating paradises, the ‘lesser’ races, or the slave races were hard at work in forced labour, under the powers of mind control, to build new cities and expansions to cities on the surface of the earth. The crystals that powered the city were supplied by the souls of some of the people of these races, and many sacrifices were made to keep these crystals from losing their power. Mountain People, kobolds, and even other human ‘mundanelings’ were kept under mind control, and forced to work against their will. Apart from a few gladiator battles that were witnessed by all, the average Aosdic citizen never knew about the slavery, or where their wealth came from. Nobody really cared, either… as long as the gold and the wine flowed, why should they have? ''The Mountain People ''"Wow! I’ve never seen a creature that can hit so hard!" "You haven’t seen anything yet, that female is only 13 years old… wait ‘till you see what an adult tailed fighter can do!" Two Aosdics watching a gladiator battle between a young mountain girl, and a massive monster/beast. The girl won within a few seconds of the battle commencing. Perhaps the least known about race are the mountain people, or the Tuatha de Tem, or "Earth Children". Those of them that exist nowadays are very rare and usually shy towards human beings. The major distinguishing feature about a mountain person is the tail she/he will have. It is a long monkey like tail used for balance, and as the legend goes, keeps the mountain person connected with the natural world. The colouring of the tail depends on the individual person, but it usually has colours from gold to dark brown. Often, a mountain person’s tail will have spots on it. Mountain people are said to be the founders of what are known today as monks. Using only their bodies and the natural energy around themselves known as ‘chi’ or ‘nochd’, mountain people are extremely adept and powerful at hand to hand fighting. They also tend to be more physically stronger then normal human beings are (it is possible for a trained fighter monk Mountain Person to wrap a two handed gladius sword around a common warrior’s neck), and seem to be far more in tune with their natural surroundings then most human beings are. Legend has it that each Mountain Person was bound to an animal on the planet, and that they were protected by this animal all their lives. Some mountain people could in fact actually shift forms into their animal guardian if the need was ever to arise. However, despite all this, the mountain people have not thrived as one would think they would. This is for a few reasons. The first reason is the ancient mountain people (as we know them) were mostly whipped out due to the battles against darkness. Second, pregnancy for females of their race is far more difficult and longer then human beings. Mothers have a strong chance that they may die while giving birth to children. It is not known why this happens, but it prevents the number of mountain people from ever growing too big. Mountain people, despite being shy, tend to be peaceful. There are quite a few mountain people living around the areas of Undine and Suomi. Some of the braver mountain people have lived in and around human civilization, though most like to keep their tails hidden from prying eyes. Few (like myself) actually show their tails to strangers. It is also possible for a mountain person to become an aisling, because they are directly related to human beings. (I am, in case you haven’t guessed already, a mountain girl Aisling myself, which is why I am writing this about us). ''Kobolds and Mountain People The Mountain people, surprisingly, have lived in peace with the Kobolds over the years. Although the Kobolds remain bitter towards all the things man kind have done over the years, they consider mountain people a woodland creature, and thus treat them like woodland creatures. The ''‘enlightened humans’ as the Kobolds refer to the mountain people, consider them likewise, and as the millenniums have come and gone there have been virtually no incidents between them. Since they are both are peoples of the woods, the mountain people and Kobolds tend to have no hate towards one another, and have no need to fight. However, goblins (their sometimes allies, and sometimes enemies) have been known to try and attack mountain people, but usually without success. They consider normal human beings, however, "The Corrupted" and despise humans. They believe, religiously, that human beings are mostly controlled by the Darkness (the exception to this is the Aisling, whom they believe is a bringer of light to the world). This has lead to many animosities between humans and Kobolds over the years, involving countless Kobold and humans dead due to conflict and raids of villages. Their religious sacrifices of children to their Gods is believed to be part of their retribution against corrupt human beings, though why innocent children would be sacrificed is beyond me. (More information about information about goblins can be found in the Loures Library) ''The Pattern Walkers For the most part, the Pattern Walkers remain shrouded in mystery. Even modern Aisling pattern walkers remain puzzled over how their kind were created, what they were for, or who their masters were. We do know a few things about the Pattern Walkers, though. They were the elite soldiers of the Aosdics charged with defending the lives of the slave races from the forces of darkness, and rampant creatures. They seemed to also derive their powers from the spaces in between worlds, and were able to slip into and out of reality using hidden techniques. Despite not knowing whom they served, they were loyal and strong soldiers, and obeyed without question. The modern day pattern walkers still fight the dark creatures, but don’t have slave races to protect any more. It is likely they were founded by the Aosdics, and were to defend the slave races from the forces of darkness. However, the average Pattern Walker was of a ''"lesser race" born on the surface of the earth. They were picked of the finest gladiators, fighters, and workers. Many Mountain People and human beings were selected as Pattern Walkers. Both male and female persons were eligible. The Walkers themselves didn’t know their purposes, but they fought on the purpose that they were defending the light against the dark, and fought valiantly. However, during the final days of the conflict between light and dark, they were used as assassin squads against those of light. The Pattern walkers began to question their dark masters, and eventually turned against them. Legend had it that Neparos, the Maiden of Flame, was a Pattern Walker at one time in her life… Where the Pattern Walkers disappeared to during the great purging of the earth is still a mystery today… ''The Beginning of the End for Aosda For thousands of years the Aosdics strived for perfection, and mastery of their world. The lust for power, glory and intellectual ascendancy is what brought down the once great race. The legend goes that through experimentation into the great beyond that the Aosdics opened a massive portal to Kadath itself, thus bringing down the civilization. But why would the Aosdics, the wisest race ever to walk our planet, decide to take such a risk and be overwhelmed by darkness? That answer is not a reason, but a person: Reibecca Shi. Rei was a wizardess scholar who longed for eternal power and glory for Aosda. She brought about the widespread slavery of peoples, and knew of all the evils going on behind the scenes of the great civilization. However, what was not known is that she was tempted by the dark powers that be. Promising eternal life for herself and her civilization, the Dark whispered in her thoughts of an octogram, that when built, would ascend the Aosdics to a god like existence, the eternal power of dream-scape. This was to be done by building crystals of all human emotions. Then, lining them up in a perfect octogram, all emotions were to be cancelled out, chaos and order nullifying one another. When these conditions were met, the path to ultimate power would be realized. Rei managed to convince the leaders of the civilization to begin research and construction into such an octogram, with promise of eternal life for themselves and their civilization they were easily tempted. For hundreds of years the scholars researched and constructed what would be the gate to eternal power. This was all done with Rei overseeing the research and construction. The power crystals of the human emotions were created, than slaves were mostly used to power them. It is said that the crystal of Sgrios and Ceannliadir hung over every forced gladiator battle that ever took place, slowly absorbing the energy that would be needed to power the crystals of war and death when the time came. Finally, after centuries of hard work, the octcogram was near completion. Over eight days of calibration, the crystals one by one were put into place around the massive octogram. As each crystal was put into place, the octogram started to more and more faintly glow… Finally, the last crystal, that of Death was moved into place, and the horrors of darkness were unleashed upon the world… Only Rei knew that this would happen, and she engineered it to serve a dark master… The Maiden of Flame A tale, handed down in the Kobold culture, and somewhat in the human culture that was once only considered a myth, is an account of the end of the Aosdics and the first all out conflict between light and darkness. A Maiden mountain girl, with the spark of light, ignited the fires that purged Temuair of all darkness nearly 18,000 years ago. Had no one had fought the way she had, all life would be under the cloud of eternal darkness and nightmares. Now, translated and retold through the help of the Kobold Shaman, is the story of Neparos, the Maiden of Flame, who fought in the name of Dannan… ''Perhaps the greatest legend of a fighter ever to be told would have to be of Neparos, a mountain girl that for a time would bear the entire battle between light and darkness on her shoulders. Born in the woods free, Neparos lived the first 8 or 9 winters of her life in the woods, with many of the free Mountain People that were still around. Like all mountain girls she was taught the arts of fighting by her own mother, and showed much strength at her tender age. However, she was eventually found along with her family by the Aosdics, and forced into slavery. They were captured by a group of Aosdic wizards using magic. Neparos, along with her brothers and sisters, were forced to be mind controlled and reprogrammed to do labour. However, despite all of the magical efforts, it was impossible to break down Neparos. She was wild, and so powerful at even that age that she would try to escape all of the time, and almost succeeded. The wizards, to their alarm, found out that they could not kill her, and the only way to contain the mountain girl was to have her suspended in a magical-field, which required its own massive power crystal to maintain. The slave wizards were puzzled at the Neparos question, than one had the idea of putting her in the arena as a gladiator. Sooner or later, some fighter or horrible monster of darkness would get rid of their flamboyant problem. Despite what they thought, they were wrong. The now 13-year-old girl, with long red hair, quickly vanquished any and all opponents that they tried to send into the arena after her. The girl quickly became an arena favourite to the Aosdics, and was nicknamed "The Maiden of Flame" by her masters. This was because of her beautiful, fiery red hair, which seemed to dance like the flames when she fought. After each fight, she was suspended in the magical field, because she still would try to run away for freedom. The Aosdic world was at a loss at how a small girl could be so powerful, but the explanation for that is her spirit bound. Unlike all the other Mountain People who would likely be bound to a normal woodland creature, Neparos was bound to the most powerful creature in our world… the Great Draco. The Great Draco lives deep within the earth, and the creature itself is nature’s will. All the forces of nature that happen in our world, and all of nature’s wrath are controlled by this Great Draco. It saw that the eternal darkness would arise, so he bonded with the soul of a child, Neparos. As the battles went on, there was nothing that could even hurt this child. The people, getting bored of seeing Neparos win all the time lost favour in her. The wizards then had an even bigger problem on their hands. How do you control a girl that is a virtually unstoppable fighter? The power crystal, which kept Neparos’ personal magical prison going was wearing down, and would shatter sooner or later. They would then not be able to contain Neparos, and she would escape. Or worse, attack her kidnappers. The slave owners then came up with an idea: make her a pattern walker, and direct her fighting towards creatures of dark that threatened them. This would effectively kill birds with one stone. Neparos was then sent to the pattern walkers. They made her an offer of the freedom to go anywhere on earth, as long as she fought against the dark creatures of the world. Grudgingly, Neparos accepted and became a pattern walker at the age of about 14 years of age. Despite having to fight off horrible creatures that only the horrors of eternal dark could conjure, Neparos was happy being back on the earth she so loved. She very bravely fought against the forces of dark, defending the integrity of nature and light with very little encouragement from her secretive masters. As she fought, she learned how to listen to nature around herself, and control her emotions. The Great Draco, through the whispers in her mind, managed to instruct her on how to control and use her strength in battle, and by the age of 18 Neparos had become a master of the arts of fighting. Neparos had even fallen in love with another Mountain Person, who was a Pattern Walker as well, and they had one child… this was perhaps the most joyous time for Neparos being able to experience being a mother. She named her daughter affectionately "Napie"… ''The Final Battle ''In the beginning of the year 15003, Neparos, and the rest of the Pattern Walkers were ordered back to the capital of the Aosdics to witness the birth of the eternal greatness that they had contributed to. Neparos, as much as she hated the floating cities of Aosda, went to watch the event under orders. There, the Pattern Walkers were given the finest luxuries of the Aosdic civilization, and got to witness to whole event unfold before them. Many of them, being the first time ever seeing the capital city of the Aosdics, were amazed at the splendour of the floating city. Neparos was unimpressed all of this, for she knew just who built the city and who paid the price for all that they were enjoying. As the ceremony unfolded, Neparos was starting to feel a distinctly sick feeling, and she had the feeling something bad would happen. She was worried about the ceremony, and convinced her love to take their child down to the earth below, and to keep her safe. Grudgingly, her love took their child down to the earth, and kept her hidden. Neparos got more and more worried as the 8 day long ceremony progressed. Finally, by about the 7th day, Neparos was shaking couldn’t sit still easily. Like that of an animal that knew something horrible was going to happen instinctively. She knew that something awful would happen, and that she needed to leave the city. So, the night before the 8th day of the ceremony, Neparos snuck away in the cover of night and left for the earth. A few of her close comrades, worried for her, went looking for her the next day before the ceremony. This was what saved them. At the sun rise of the 8thday, the final ceremony began. Reibecca Shi, standing before the final crystal, personally performed the rite to put it into place. She smiled subtly, knowing what would happen when that crystal was put into place. Raising her hands, and performing the rite of the Crystal of Death, Reibecca Shi unleashed horrors unto the world, and damned the civilization that had placed so much faith unto their creation… Far away, Neparos looked out onto the sky towards the massive floating city. Just as the sun rose up, it was eclipsed by a massive pillar of darkness, rising out of the center of the city. She then kissed her daughter good-bye, and promised her that she would hold her again, no matter what, and flew off towards the city to confront her destiny. By that time, the forces of darkness had killed or subverted all those who were in the giant floating city. They were then to turn their rage upon the slaves on the earth itself. Neparos, the forces of nature, and the few pattern walkers that had survived by not being at the ceremony were the only forces left to represent light and prevent the world from going into eternal blackness. Though the Aosdic civilization was to be lost forever, these few people fought with their lives in order to defend our world. Reibecca, under the orders of Darkness, was warned of a people with the power to oppose them, who had a child. If any mountain people were to survive, the forces of darkness would eventually be thrown back into the void in which they came from. She was then ordered to destroy her former slaves, and to hunt down Neparos and her daughter… Reibecca Shi searched out for Neparos’ daughter first, and eventually found her. She went, and attacked the village that Napie was being looked after. Despite the people in that village being skilled fighters, she quickly swept them aside. Finding the child crying in a crib, Reibecca began to cast a spell with would return the child to it’s very point of conception. A master monk, fearing for the child, focuses and ignited an energy blast that struck Reibecca in the back as she was mid way through casting the spell. Instead of killing the child, Reibecca sent her through the voids of time… ''(and as legends go, to appear much, much later in history…) Reibecca Shi, annoyed by this annihilated the man who struck her.'' Reibecca then created a plague that would effect only mountain people. The plague would cause them to lose their tails, and all connections with nature if they were affected. She then unleashed it upon both the slaves and the free Mountain People in the world as her first act of real terror… It was just then that Neparos arrived, containing the powers of nature’s will and light, to confront this Reibecca Shi, and all the powers of darkness… A very long and drawn out battle ensued between Neparos and Reibecca Shi which lasted nearly a day. Neither of the opposing forces was able to get the upper hand for a long time. The area now known as the Undine Field was ravaged by the forces of light and darkness clashing against one another. Neparos’ skill and strength were an even match for Rei’s near infinite wizardry and dark powers... Finally, as Neparos realized she would not last forever, she then realized she would have to sacrifice her own life in order for light in the world to stand a chance. Kneeling on the ground and raising her hands in the air, she sacrificed her body so that her spirit bond, the Great Draco, could appear. Her body disappeared, and a massive sand storm started up. The storm then got thicker, and thicker and gave form to a massive Draco… the most massive creature that Temuair had ever seen. The Draco was so massive, that it’s wings could block out the sun. The battle then raged on, as the earth itself confronted the dark forces. Reibecca, was losing the battle and very quickly realized that if she tried to out last the very creature that was the avatar of the Earth Sea gods, she would surely lose. She then focused all of the dark energy she could use into one spell, that would return the Great Draco to its original form in the earth, and keep herself alive. It was a massive gamble, for if the spell failed she would be out of energy and be at the total mercy of the forces of nature. She cast the spell, using every bit of dark energy within her to do so, and it worked. Firing a blast that struck Neparos’ soul directly, the Draco had lost its connection, and fell back within the earth whence it came. However, when casting that spell, it cleared her body of all darkness that had controlled her. Looking down, and seeing Neparos’ body turn to sand, and fade away, Reibecca Shi realized what she had done, and how she had been used by the darkness. The dark pillar was still in the centre of the once great city, and would continue to infest the world until all was consumed. She then realized that the only way to prevent this was to seal off the portal to the Darkness. Rei then used a spell to self-destruct the crystals that kept the massive floating city afloat, causing it to crash into the sea. When the massive octogram was cracked, and moved out of place because of this, it reversed the effects of the darkness coming into the world. The darkness was then sealed off, despite the sacrifice of the great city. Reibecca watched from the distance as one by one the great cities of Aosda fell from the sky, and were lost in the sea… all because of her foolishness… The Earth Gods themselves then began to purge Temuair of all Darkness that was left… terrible fires, floods, and earthquakes annihilated all of those tainted by the darkness… except for Reibecca… Because of her temptation, Reibecca Shi was cursed with what she wanted all along, eternal life. It is not possible for her to die, but she lives in torment of what happened to the civilization that she once worked so hard to make powerful… ''Aftermath Those who survived the horrors and destruction brought about for greed of eternal power were for ever changed by what happened. The Mountain People, affected by that plague, were then no different then human beings. Some mountain people, despite these odds, managed to survive over the eons, but in secret. The Kobolds, bitter of human kind’s toying with powers beyond their comprehension, were soon enemies of mankind in general. They still worship the ancient Earth Sea gods, and traditionally believed that the gods must be pleased through the sacrifice of human children to pay for mankind’s foolishness. The mundanes are but shells of what the Aosdics once were, and most of the powerful knowledge that was known has yet to be found. As for the pattern walkers, it is unknown what their fate is after that fateful day, though many have re appeared in more recent times. It has been proven that time and time again history goes in cycles. First, that of building a civilization, then the advancement of, and finally the destruction of the civilization. This has happened for both the Aosdics and the Hy-brasyl civilizations that have come thousands of years before us. While we, the Aislings, may possibly create a utopian world someday, if we are foolish the dark forces of the world, together with temptation will destroy us all. If we are indeed the true Aosdics reborn, as many believe we are, then we must be cautious to avoid making the same mistakes in the past. The time of judgement and a great war between light and dark could happen within our life times. As for myself, I have learned a great deal about whom I am and how those before me fought to defend against light, and humbly hope that many others will benefit from this knowledge. Napie, Mountain Girl and Aisling, Deoch 13 ''Acknowledgement: This work was based upon the works of Kedian’s "Aosdic Mystic Theory" Philosophy work, Timeline of Temuair, Aiefe’s historical work "Grinneal - Beginning" and Maerista’s historical work "The Book of the Black Cow". All of those works, along with those discovered and translated by the Kobold Shaman were used. Special thanks goes to all those who helped me put together this work Category:Loures Library Category:History Category:Second Aeon